Supporting Post-Graduates’ Skill Acquisition Using Components of Constructivism and Social Learning Theory

Rebecca Elder Hinshaw, Robin Burden, Michael Shriner

Indiana State University.
Northcentral University.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2012.326131                

Abstract

In order to support our post-graduates, higher education professionals are often petitioned to provide concentrated training opportunities in specific skill development to our adult learners. The question then becomes, how to support and enhance curriculum attainment within the constraints of a concentrated format? In this article, we describe our efforts to design and implement professional development workshops based on components of Constructivism and Social Learning Theory. The participants included 150 post-graduate teachers from 19 secondary and elementary schools who participated in 3-day workshops on differentiated instruction (DI) techniques. Findings indicate that the design of the workshops provided the participants with useful strategies and resources. Results from paired sample T-test yielded interesting results.

Keywords

Higher Education; Constructivism; Social Learning Theory; Professional Development; Differentiated Instruction; Adult Learners

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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